Alabama
Here’s the case against Alabama football getting a College Football Playoff spot
Alabama football’s path the College Football Playoff is out of its control.
The Crimson Tide has its ranking heading into the final bracket, sitting at No. 11 and likely in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth before the top 12 teams are officially announced Sunday
Alabama seems to be right in the mix for a CFP spot even with three losses. But should the Crimson Tide even be considered?
Alabama football CFP predictions
No matter if the Crimson Tide should be considered or not, Alabama remains a favorite to make the final 12.
In the penultimate CFP rankings before the final bracket is revealed Sunday, Alabama landed at No. 11. In this set of rankings, Alabama would be an 11-seed playing No. 6 Notre Dame for a quarterfinal date with SMU.
Alabama, a three-loss team, finished ahead of two-loss Miami and three-loss SEC teams South Carolina and Ole Miss. According to the CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel, since none of those teams will play in a conference championship game, that order is “set.”
Before Tuesday’s CFP rankings, multiple outlets including ESPN, Sporting News and 247Sports had the Crimson Tide in the CFP as either a No. 12 or No. 11 seed facing teams like Penn State or Notre Dame.
Why Alabama football won’t make College Football Playoff
There is a chance the Crimson Tide miss the playoff entirely.
No. 8 SMU faces No. 17 Clemson Saturday for an ACC championship. If the three-loss Tigers beat the Mustangs and earn an automatic bid, Alabama could be pushed out in favor of two-loss SMU, which would have its second loss in a conference championship game.
The same could be said, albeit less likely, with the Mountain West championship game between No. 10 Boise State and No. 20 UNLV.
But even if Clemson or UNLV wins, Alabama, in the eyes of the committee, still has a fighter’s chance at a top-12 bid.
Here’s why the Crimson Tide shouldn’t.
Alabama lost to a six-win Vanderbilt team in a game it which it never held a lead. And after a road loss to Tennessee, the Crimson Tide had an abysmal performance against six-win Oklahoma, an outing considered among the worst offensive performances by an Alabama team in 20 years.
Three losses by 33 total points.
Yes, Alabama beat South Carolina head-to-head. But two of the Gamecocks’ three losses came by five total points while all three losses came by 29 total points. And South Carolina beat Oklahoma by 26.
Ole Miss beat Oklahoma by 12 and lost its three games to Kentucky, LSU and Florida by 13 combined points. The Rebels also beat Georgia and South Carolina.
The there’s two-loss Miami, with losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse by nine total points.
Strength of schedule may win out for Alabama. But when the Crimson Tide fell short, it fell short significantly, something other CFP hopefuls didn’t do.
When do CFP rankings come out?
The final CFP rankings will be released at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday after the weekend’s slate of conference championship games.
How to watch CFP bracket reveal
- TV channel: ESPN
- Stream: Fubo
The CFP bracket will be revealed between 11 a.m.-3 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
PENSACOLA, Fla. — A bipartisan bill is making its way through Washington that would preserve and possibly restore a famous piece of naval aviation history.
The F-14 Tomcat was in service with the Navy for more than 30 years and was famously used in the original “Top Gun” movie.
But when the aircraft retired in 2005, the U.S. government destroyed a majority of the airplanes that were here in the U.S. This made the prospects of the jet returning to the skies next to impossible.
The “Maverick Act” hopes to bring a jet that inspired a generation back to life.
“The Maverick Act got a lot of support,” “It passed the Senate unanimously. It now heads to Congress for a final vote.”
Pensacola Navy veteran Dan McCort can still feel the raw power the F-14 Tomcat brought to naval aviation.
“It was a blast to fly. I gotta tell you I got it,” McCort said. “I love the airplane. I love the missions because it came with a huge mission set.”
The only country in the world flying the jet was Iran. The jets were given to Iran in 1979. But when the government was overthrown, the jets fell into the hands of an anti-American government.
Because of that, when the jet retired in 2006, the U.S. ordered most of the aircraft and its parts be destroyed.
During Operation Epic Fury, American and Israeli pilots destroyed Iran’s entire Air Force, including all the remaining flyable F-14s.
“We had to take them out, but boy that was hard for me to watch,” McCort said.
A bill dubbed the “Maverick Act” was introduced through a bipartisan effort. The legislation would preserve and restore three F-14s sitting in our nation’s boneyard.
“That airplane inspired an entire nation, partly because of the movie, partly because of the times it was hard Cold War, and it represented frankly American air power,” said McCort.
“A fantastic piece of equipment that served our country well,” Congressman Jimmy Patronis said. “But I can’t help but poke fun at it simply because of what Tom Cruise has done with the most recent ‘Top Gun’ movies.”
The bill calls for the Navy to donate the Tomcats to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where they will be restored. If there’s enough spare parts, the bill calls for one of them to be restored to flight status to be flown at airshows across the country.
All of this would be funded by private donors, and not American taxpayers.
“If there’s no taxpayer dollars being used to restore these things then put it on the table,” said Patronis.
McCort says restoring the airplane will cost millions of dollars.
“A foundation that could generate some donations to defer the costs of making this thing fly because it will not be inexpensive,” said McCort. “I believe we’ll pay dividends down the road, both for the museum as well as a recruiting opportunity… as well as a recruiting opportunity for the country in general, and for the Navy frankly.”
Alabama football’s first game of the 2026 season has a kickoff time.
Alabama vs. East Carolina will be at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, Sept. 5 from Bryant-Denny Stadium on ABC. The game will be a part of an SEC tripleheader on the network, along with Baylor vs. Auburn (2:30 p.m. CT) and LSU vs. Clemson (6:30 p.m. CT).
East Carolina is one of three nonconference games for Alabama in 2026, along with Florida State on Sept. 19 and Chattanooga on Nov. 21.
Here’s a look at Alabama’s full 2026 schedule:
- Sept. 5: Alabama vs East Carolina; 11 a.m., ABC
- Sept. 12: Alabama at Kentucky
- Sept. 19: Alabama vs. Florida State
- Sept. 26: Alabama vs. South Carolina
- Oct. 3: Alabama at Mississippi State
- Oct. 10: Alabama vs. Georgia
- Oct. 17: Alabama at Tennessee
- Oct. 24: Alabama vs. Texas A&M
- Nov. 7: Alabama at LSU
- Nov. 14: Alabama at Vanderbilt
- Nov. 21: Alabama vs. Chattanooga
- Nov. 28: Alabama vs. Auburn
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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